Jamestown

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Transcript of Jamestown

JamestownThe First English Colony(1606) English rulers decide not to fund the risky venture of colonizationInstead, businessmen got a charter, or certificate of permission, from the kingAllowed them to form a joint-stock company, or a company funded and run by a group of investors who share in the profits and lossesNamed the Virginia Company(1607) Virginia Company sent about 100 colonists to VirginiaStarted a settlement near the James River (Chesapeake Bay region)Named their settlement Jamestown after King James IWhat can we learn about the Jamestown settlement from this image?The first settlers faced five hardships in the early years of the colony...LOCATION:Swamps and dirty water --> disease-carrying mosquitos --> typhus, dysentery, malariaSTARVATION:Despite help from the Virginia Company, the settlers battled starvation for years"The Starving Time" - winter of 1609UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS:The settlers were not used to manual labor and spent their time looking for gold instead of performing tasks necessary for survivalPOOR LEADERSHIP:Settlers fought with one another, and the capable John Smith, who helped organize and control the settlement, left Jamestown to return to EnglandCONFLICT WITH NATIVES:Relations with the Powhatan people were uneasyJohn Smithadventurous and arroganttook control of Jamestown - forced settlers to work and farmestablished a relationship with the PowhatanAfter five years of struggling to survive, something happened to reverse the misfortune of the colonists...(1612) Colonist John Rolfe began experimenting with growing tobaccoBy 1614, tobacco was being shipped to EnglandExporting tobacco became the basis of the colony's economy and saved it from complete failureThe popularity of tobacco led to changes in Jamestownhttp://www.history.com/topics/jamestown/videos#the-value-of-tobaccoFirst, settlers began expanding out of Jamestown to have more room to grow tobaccothey built plantations along rivers so the tobacco could be transported easilyThe tobacco boom also caused a need for more laborersthe headright system granted 50 acres of land to every person who paid for his voyage to VirginiaTo work their new land, plantation owners imported indentured servants from Englandin exchange for passage to North America and food and shelter upon arrival, indentured servants worked for their owners for a period of 4-7 yearsIn 1619 the first African s arrived in Virginia aboard a Dutch merchant shipevidence suggests they were treated as indentured servantsit would be several decades before the English colonists used Africans for slave labor1. How did England fund its explorations/colonization attempts?2. Why did England want to colonize? (What was England hoping to achieve?)3. What types of people were sent to Roanoke?4. Briefly describe the economic theory of mercantilism.5. How did England’s desire to sabotage the Spanish affect the success (or lack thereof) of Roanoke?6. What do you think happened to the colonists at Roanoke?